ULSTER FACTIONS AGREE TO A PLAN FOR JOINT RULE

By EAMON QUINN and ALAN COWELL; Eamon Quinn reported from Belfast, and Alan Cowell from London.

Published: March 27, 2007

After years of hostility and recriminations, the leaders of Northern Ireland's dominant rival groups, Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein and the Protestant leader, the Rev. Ian Paisley, held their first face-to-face talks on Monday and agreed to form a joint administration for the province on May 8.

The deal came on the day Britain and Ireland had set as the deadline for restoring Northern Ireland's local government, more than four years after it was suspended in October 2002 in a dispute over espionage activities by the Irish Republican Army.

''The word historic has to be used,'' said Brian Feeney, a historian at St. Mary's University College in Belfast. ''It was the only way it was ever going to work. The two leaders of the two traditions had to do the deal.''

The province's leaders failed to meet the March 26 deadline set by Britain and Ireland to restore local government, but they were under pressure from a threat by London and Dublin to dissolve the suspended local assembly altogether if they did not reach agreement. The fact that the two men set a date themselves for restored self-rule and sat together in the same room persuaded Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain and his Irish counterpart, Bertie Ahern, to accept the delay.

''We were not going to stand in the way of consensus,'' Mr. Blair's spokesman told reporters in London, speaking on the customary condition of anonymity.

Mr. Blair depicted Monday's events as ''a very remarkable coming together of people who, for very obvious reasons, have been strongly opposed in the past.''

Though the two sides remain divided in their ultimate aims, the sight of the once sworn enemies sitting feet apart was all the more striking in contrast to the once familiar images of bloodshed that scarred Northern Ireland for decades. More than 3,500 people died in three decades of the latest round of sectarian strife known as the Troubles that ended with an I.R.A. cease-fire 10 years ago and the Good Friday peace agreement in 1998.

If carried out, the agreement means that Britain will formally hand back responsibility for running many of Northern Ireland's internal affairs to an administration composed of Protestants and Roman Catholics, with Mr. Paisley, the leader of the biggest party in the province, as first minister and Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, as his deputy. Other, smaller, parties will also have seats in the government proportionate to their electoral showing.

''Today the clouds have lifted and people can see their future,'' said Peter Hain of Britain, the Northern Ireland minister. British officials described the agreement as critically different from many false starts because the two main parties had made the deal themselves in direct talks that broke the province's longstanding taboos on such encounters.

''In the past, it's been us imposing dates on the parties,'' Mr. Blair's spokesman said. ''The crucial difference today is that this was an agreement reached by the parties themselves.''

The two sides still have opposing goals, however, with Sinn Fein pressing for a united Ireland and the Democratic Unionists seeking continued links with mainland Britain.

The deal was announced by Mr. Adams and Mr. Paisley sitting close together at a diamond-shaped table in the Stormont parliament building, a sight that would have seemed impossible in the days when Mr. Paisley labeled Mr. Adams and his followers terrorists because of Sinn Fein's affiliation with the I.R.A., and Mr. Adams publicly lauded the I.R.A.'s guerrilla campaign against British rule.

Such was Mr. Paisley's opposition to any kind of settlement with Sinn Fein that he earned the nicknamed ''Doctor No.''

Mr. Adams and Mr. Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, did not shake hands, but in prepared statements, they sounded similar, conciliatory themes.

''We are very conscious of the many people who have suffered,'' Mr. Adams said. ''We owe it to them to build the best possible future.'' He added, ''It is a time for generosity, a time to be mindful of the common good and of the future of all our people.''

Mr. Paisley, who had insisted on the delay until May 8, said: ''We must not allow our justified loathing of the horrors and tragedies of the past to become a barrier to creating a better and more stable future. In looking to the future we must never forget those who have suffered during the dark period from which we are, please God, emerging.''

The Stormont parliament building, where the meeting took place, is a former symbol of Protestant hegemony in Northern Ireland. The main Good Friday accords were signed there in 1998.

At that time, Mr. Paisley's party rejected the very notion of sharing power with the Catholics of Sinn Fein. In elections five years later, his Democratic Unionists became Northern Ireland's biggest Protestant party. Since then, in a series of halting negotiations, Mr. Paisley has begrudgingly edged toward agreement on power sharing in return for major concessions.

In 2005, the I.R.A. pledged to disarm and to pursue its goals by political means, not armed struggle. Until the last few weeks, Mr. Paisley pressed Sinn Fein for further concessions, including acceptance of the province's policing arrangements, traditionally dominated by Protestants.

At a meeting last October, Britain and Ireland laid out a timetable that foresaw the power-sharing administration being revived Monday. The agreement provided for elections three weeks ago, in which both Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionists strengthened their positions as the two most powerful parties in the province. The election strengthened Mr. Paisley's hand against dissidents within his own party who are opposed to the deal.

British officials maintain that the election also represented a demand from Northern Ireland's 1.6 million people for the rival parties to end their conflict and concentrate on local issues like the price of water supplies, health and education.

''It's the triumph of normal politics, and we have waited a long time for that,'' the British spokesman said. In hectic, last-minute negotiations here, he said, Sinn Fein had agreed to a six-week delay for restoring the power-sharing government in return for a firm guarantee from the unionists to share power.

''This won't stop republicans being any less republican or nationalist, or making unionists less fiercely unionist,'' Mr. Blair said. ''But what it does mean is that people will come together, respecting each other's point of view, and share power, make sure politics is only expressed by peaceful and democratic means.''

The agreement is particularly important for Mr. Blair because he plans to step down in the summer and wants a legacy that will include a settlement in Northern Ireland.

Between now and May 8, the two sides said they would hold meetings on the details of restoring the power-sharing executive and would jointly press the British government for an improved package of incentives to improve the province's economy, which is heavily dependent on government subsidies.

''There are still many difficulties to be faced, but let it be clear,'' Mr. Adams said, that the agreement ''follows Ian Paisley's unequivocal and welcome commitment to support and participate fully in the political institutions on May 8.''

Jeffrey Donaldson, a Protestant politician who had defected to the Democratic Unionists in opposition to the Good Friday peace accords, said Monday's agreement ''is for the next generation,'' adding: ''We want to hand on a legacy. I know that the children will not have to endure what people of both sides have suffered.''

Photo: The Rev. Ian Paisley, center, the Protestant leader, and Gerry Adams, right, of Sinn Fein, held a joint news conference to announce their power-sharing agreement. The two, longtime enemies, did not shake hands. (Pool photo by Paul Faith)(pg. A6)